sabato 28 agosto 2010

Roman Circus

Silvio Berlusconi holds his promises

of Italian dynamism hostage to political bloodsport.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is set to put his government to a no-confidence vote next month. That would be the fourth time this summer, and the second since a split in Mr. Berlusconi's center-right coalition emerged last month to threaten his parliamentary majority. The latest installment in this Roman soap opera, coming next month, ostensibly concerns Mr. Berlusconi's sweeping five-point plan for the country: greater fiscal autonomy for Italy's regions, tax cuts and a simplified tax code, development and infrastructure spending for southern Italy; crackdowns on illegal immigration and organized crime, and an overhaul to the justice system. Oh, and all that is completely non-negotiable: "Should cohesion be lacking on even one of these five points. . . . We would refuse to let the reforms we have pledged be negotiated down," Mr. Berlusconi was quoted as saying in the Corriere della Sera on Monday, adding that if his plan doesn't win majority support in its entirety, "the only way forward" will be early elections. But nobody in his fractured coalition seems to disagree with the thrust of the plan. The only real points of contention are with the judicial reforms, though mainly because they would alleviate legal pressures on the embattled Premier himself. On the need for pro-growth reforms in particular, the Italian right remains united. So why the ultimatum? Well, this is Italy. Mr. Berlusconi is gambling—cleverly, according to most polls—that he and his remaining allies would fare well in a snap election, while squeezing out some of the troublesome dissenters led by Mr. Berlusconi's erstwhile ally Gianfranco Fini. Mr. Fini led more than 30 lawmakers out of Mr. Berlusconi's coalition late last month after attacking the ethics of some of Mr. Berlusconi's friends. Mr. Fini also opposed a controversial measure passed in the Senate in June to restrict wiretapping (the measure was tied to a confidence vote, naturally), and has suggested that politicians under investigation should resign—a proposal that would dispose of some of Mr. Berlusconi's cohorts. Meanwhile, Italy declines. Voters have elected Mr. Berlusconi three times on promises to shrink the state. What they've gotten instead is an endless parade of no-confidence votes, petty scandals, relative economic stagnation and sclerotic bureaucracy. To take just one example, the World Bank says it takes an average of 1,210 days to enforce a contract in Italy, and that such government "service" costs a medium-sized Italian company 68.4% of its profits. Given this shambles, it's a testament to Italians' ingenuity and verve that they still manage to produce some of the world's most successful brands and maintain a reasonable standard of living. Imagine what they could achieve if Mr. Berlusconi weren't holding his promises of Italian dynamism hostage to political bloodsport.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447004575449062285271290.html?KEYWORDS=Berlusconi

Italiens Linke scheitert an sich selbst

Berliner Zeitung

Kordula Doerfler

Auf diesen Moment hat Italiens Opposition jahrelang gewartet. Seit dem Bruch mit seinem Kontrahenten Gianfranco Fini ist Silvio Berlusconi fast so handlungsunfähig wie jene sogenannten Baderegierungen, die im Italien der Ersten Republik gern vor den Sommerferien eingesetzt wurden, um kommissarisch die Geschäfte zu führen. Im September will Berlusconi - wieder einmal - die Vertrauensfrage stellen. Doch selbst jetzt ist die Opposition nicht in der Lage und nicht willens, ihn zu stürzen. Seit dem Abgang von Walter Veltroni schlingert die größte Oppositionspartei, die Demokratische Partei, profil- und orientierungslos vor sich hin. Ihr derzeitiger Vorsitzender, Pier Luigi Bersani, fürchtet ein Debakel bei Neuwahlen derart, dass er lieber einer breiten Übergangsregierung das Wort redet.

Den einzigen, der das Zeug hätte, Berlusconi wirklich herauszufordern, lässt man gar nicht erst groß werden: Nichi Vendola, schwul, katholisch, Ex-Kommunist. Heute ist er Vorsitzender einer Splitterpartei und immerhin zum zweiten Mal Ministerpräsident im konservativen Apulien. Er taugte als linker Spitzenkandidat. Bersani jedoch träumt von einem neuen "Olivenbaum"-Bündnis, zu dem erneut die Christdemokraten gehören sollen. Alles zur Rettung Italiens selbstverständlich. Deutlicher lässt sich nicht formulieren, dass das Projekt einer Partei links der Mitte, die aus eigener Kraft Berlusconi schlägt, gescheitert ist.

http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-zeitung/archiv/.bin/dump.fcgi/2010/0827/meinung/0076/index.html

lunedì 23 agosto 2010

Early Italian election draws closer

Financial Times

By Giulia Segreti in Rimini

Published: August 22 2010

A call for an early election in Italy drew closer as Gianfranco Fini, speaker of the lower house and former ally of Silvio Berlusconi, prime minister, gave only conditional support to a legislative agenda that will form the basis of a vote of confidence in the government.

Mr Fini and his break away faction said it agreed with 95 per cent of the document approved by Mr Berlusconi and his senior party officials on Friday, but declared negotiation was needed over some legislation, particularly judicial matters.

“[Mr Berlusconi’s] logic belongs to local food markets, not to politics,” said Mr Fini, welcoming debate in parliament between the different centre-right political groups.

Since Friday, the prime minister has repeatedly said that he is not prepared to negotiate.

“Even if cohesion among the majority is lacking in only one of the points [of the agenda], we will not allow [anyone] to wear us out and will refuse to negotiate,” said Mr Berlusconi.

The decisive vote is expected on September 6, when a draft for the reform of trials will be presented in the justice commission of the lower chamber. The law would limit the length of trials to a total of six-and-a-half years, after which the proceedings would be annulled.

The law, which would eliminate three ongoing corruption proceedings against Mr Berlusconi, was passed by the Senate in January.

In the lower house, the ruling coalition will not reach its needed majority threshold of 320 MPs without the vote of Mr Fini’s supporters. Mr Fini has said in the past that he does not support the law.

Although he is trying to avoid a final rupture and early elections, Mr Berlusconi has already started meeting some MPs to discuss electoral campaigning with several local associations. He is also looking at widening his party’s majority, appealing to the centrist and mixed groups within parliament, and the Central Union, led by Peir Ferdinando Casini.

According to political polls, the premier’s People of Liberty would gain the support of 36 to 38 per cent of the population.

“[The country] cannot go to early elections in the next six months as everything would be up in the air and there would be a risk of speculators and investors fleeing,” said Raffaele Bonanni, leader of Cisl, Italy’s second-largest national union.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ee2a3248-ae14-11df-bb55-00144feabdc0.html

Slinging dirt

A lively August for Italy’s politicians

THE middle finger that Umberto Bossi, leader of the Northern League, a partner in Silvio Berlusconi’s ruling coalition, raised to photographers last month says much about the condition of Italian politics. The degeneration has proceeded unabated into the dog days of August, spurred by a dramatic split in Mr Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PdL) party.

The decision, in late July, of 33 members of the lower house and ten of the upper house to split from the PdL and establish a group called Future and Freedom (FLI), under the leadership of Gianfranco Fini, a former ally of Mr Berlusconi, places the prime minister in jeopardy. The role of Giorgio Napolitano, Italy’s president, is crucial. Constitutionally, if the government loses the support of parliament, Mr Napolitano should sound out the possibility of a new administration and, if that fails, call fresh elections. But Mr Bossi and senior members of the PdL claim that Mr Berlusconi enjoys a direct popular mandate and so should have the right to dissolve parliament himself.

Now the attack dogs have been unleashed. On August 15th Maurizio Bianconi, a vice-president of the PdL in the lower house, gave an interview to Il Giornale, a newspaper owned by Mr Berlusconi’s brother, in which he accused Mr Napolitano of betraying the constitution. So serious was the charge that Mr Napolitano called Mr Bianconi’s bluff by inviting him to initiate impeachment proceedings.

Other supporters of the prime minister are calling for Mr Fini, the principal cause of Mr Berlusconi’s weakening grip on office, to resign as speaker of the lower house. They have not been above a spot of muckraking. Il Giornale has been raising questions about Mr Fini’s role in the sale of an apartment in Monte Carlo that belonged to the National Alliance, the party he led before merging it with Mr Berlusconi’s Forza Italia to create the PdL. Mr Fini’s supporters have threatened to retaliate by digging up details of Mr Berlusconi’s old property deals and investigating his murky relations with Vladimir Putin of Russia and Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi.

In contrast to Mr Berlusconi, who cultivates the image of a maverick, Mr Fini makes great play of respecting Italy’s judiciary, parliament and constitution. This has led to speculation that, should Mr Berlusconi fall, FLI might get together in parliament with centrist groups and the centre-left Democratic Party, a combination that would enjoy a slim majority, to support a technocratic administration. Yet such a heterogeneous grouping would be at serious risk of infighting and collapse.

Offstage, another actor is warming up. On August 12th, Italia Futura, a civil-society association launched a year ago by Luca di Montezemolo, a former boss of Fiat, published a note criticising the institutionalised conflict and mudslinging of Italian politics. Mr Berlusconi has little to show for his time in office, the note argued. Business leaders had expected much more.

Church leaders are also concerned. Addressing his congregation on August 15th, Dionigi Tettamanzi, the highly respected archbishop of Milan, did not refer to any specific individuals but said he regretted the way that in Italy the pursuit of individual power and wealth is so often put ahead of the common good.

Mr Berlusconi, a man once reported to have said he entered politics to avoid going to prison, has not always striven to present the impression that he heads a government free from taint. Denis Verdini, a national co-ordinator for the PdL, continues to enjoy the prime minister’s support, despite the fact that the bank he headed until July has been placed in special administration, with regulators reporting irregularities and potential conflicts of interest.

Yet calls for Italy’s best interests to be heeded are likely to be drowned out by the noise of politicians manoeuvring for position when parliament returns in September. Mr Bossi’s Northern League, flush with confidence, is calling for early elections and threatens to call its followers out on to the piazzas if it doesn’t get its way. Expect a lively autumn.

giovedì 19 agosto 2010

Non è una questione politica: adesso, è una scelta di libertà

Speravamo che il berlusconismo non fosse come lo dipingevano i "nemici", ma...
di Filippo Rossi
Eravamo convinti che fosse un semplice dibattito politico, il confronto tra due idee di centrodestra. Eravamo convinti che si trattasse di un normale dialogo tra idee diverse, opzioni diverse, leadership complementari. Eravamo sinceramente convinti che tutto potesse scorrere tranquillamente nei canali della democrazia interna a un partito. Era una sicurezza che derivava da una certezza cresciuta negli anni: Berlusconi non era il Caimano descritto dagli antiberlusconiani di professione; Berlusconi era un leader atipico ma liberale; Berlusconi non era uno da "editti bulgari"; certo, Berlusconi aveva tante questioni personali e aziendali (quante se ne potrebbero elencare) ma era comunque un leader con una sogno, una lucida follia; Berlusconi, insomma, non era come lo descrivevano i suoi nemici. Ed é in base a queste certezze che lo abbiamo difeso per anni, sperando nella sua capacità di spiccare il volo e diventare un grande politico, uno statista.

Adesso è cambiato tutto e niente sarà più come prima. Perché nessuno ci potrà più convincere che il berlusconismo non coincida integralmente con le sue espressioni più appariscenti e drammaticamente caricaturali. Nessuno ci potrà più convincere che il berlusconismo non coincida con il dossieraggio e con i ricatti, con la menzogna che diventa strumento per attaccare scientificamente l’avversario e magari distruggerlo. Nessuno ci potrà più convincere che il berlusconismo non si nutra di propaganda stupida e intontita, di slogan, di signorsì e di canzoncine ebeti da spot pubblicitario. Ma tanto non ci proveranno nemmeno, a convincerci.

E, purtroppo, il pensiero corre agli eventi passati, all'editto contro Enzo Biagi, contro Daniele Luttazzi, contro Michele Santoro. Il pensiero corre ai sensi di colpa per non aver capito prima, per non aver saputo e voluto alzare la testa. E oggi che gli editti toccano da vicino, è fin troppo facile cambiare idea. Oggi ha ragione chi dice: perché non ci avete pensato prima? Non c'è una risposta che non contempli un pizzico di vergogna. Un vergogna che, però, non prevede ora il silenzio, il ripetersi di un errore.

Eravamo convinti che tutto fosse un semplice dibattito politico. Sbagliavamo. È molto, molto di più. È una questione di civiltà. Di democrazia. E di libertà. Questioni forse più grandi di noi, che impongono una scelta difficile. Intendiamoci, tutto questo poi non impedisce la “politica”, non impedisce di assumersi la responsabilità di trovare accordi per governare il paese. Si parla d’altro. Si parla di qualcosa di più. Perché quello che abbiamo visto in questi ultimi tempi, tra documenti di espulsione e attacchi sguaiati alle istituzioni che sembrano concepite come proprietà privata e non come bene pubblico, relazioni internazionali di dubbio gusto e killeraggi mediatici, per non parlare delle questioni etiche trasformate in propaganda di partito, ecco, tutto questo dimostra che c’è una distanza culturale prima di tutto. E che la scelta, a questo punto, è se stare o meno dalla parte di una politica che si possa dire davvero laica e liberale.

19 agosto 2010